18 Sep 2018

Mr PatNico Mbe, a Gaborone-based Botswana Television (Btv) cameraman has been robbed by people claiming to need help.  

The 38-year-old said, in an interview that, the incident occurred at his rented house at Phuthadikobo Ward in Molepolole.

He narrated that he had just parked his BMW 320i after knocking off when he was ambushed by four armed men.

The suspects, he said, pushed him into the house at gun point after allegedly requesting for water to cool the overheating Mercedes Benz car they were driving.

“As I tried to hand over a five-litre bottle of water, the four pounced on me, making several demands. I was forcefully pushed to lay on my stomach,” narrated Mr Mbe.

He further stated that some of the demands made by the intruders were for him to surrender among others, keys to his car and his ATM pin number.

He said he was forced to lie on his tummy, had his mouth gagged with a cloth and hands tied to the back before he was pushed into the toilet where he was left for dead.

Mr Mbe was rescued by a passerby who heard him screaming.

And for his part, Kweneng District Officer Commanding, Senior Superintendent Modise Gabatshwane, confirmed the incident.

A  Mercedes Benz, suspected to have been used during the commission of the alleged robbery, was found abandoned near Mogonono, a village in the outskirts of Molepolole, along Molepolole/Lephepe road.

Senior Superintendent Gabatshwane appealed to members of the public to help with information that could lead to the arrest of the four suspects.

Although the event was similar to the one that occurred around the same area in June 2017, Mr Gabatshwane said it was difficult to connect the two unless investigations proved otherwise.

A similar occurrence happened to an employee of Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) in Molepolole whose Hilux 2.8 GDC was hijacked sometime in June 2017 at gun point around the same area.

The victim told BOPA that the police had not yet been able to recover his vehicle and that he had since made peace with events of that fateful winter day. ENDS